InFocus Magazine

It is not easy being a musician anywhere these days, what with CD sales plummeting and fewer record deals to go around. But surely things are even worse for an artist trying to eke out a career in a community like the Comox Valley, which is somewhat removed from any music industry hub?

“I think it can go both ways and there are benefits and challenges to both situations,” says Brodie Dawson, an indie folk singer-songwriter who currently resides in Cumberland. “In the cities there are far more musicians and it’s not as much of a community. However, there are more people to play for in the cities. In the Valley there are also plenty of places to play music. There is such a supportive artistic community and the musicians are like a family.”

And Dawson is used to being involved in a musical family. Her father, Brent Dawson, was a successful soul/blues musician who helped to form the grassroots core of the Hamilton, Ontario music scene. That meant she joined in the rehearsals in the basement and sang along. However, it wasn’t until she was in her 20s that she began to perform in front of an audience, her first live performance being in Campbell River when she opened for Juno Award winner Ray Bonneville.

“I’d done a lot of contests and karaoke, stuff like that, but never really taking it seriously,” Dawson says. “I had a musical partner then, in Campbell River. So we moved to Montreal to pursue this career. That’s where I started my first CD. We did all of the writing and recording there.”

Unfortunately, her relationship with her first partner ended just before they completed the CD. Dawson decided to go with a friend on a road trip up to Yellowknife. She never did return to Montreal as she ended up staying in the Northwest Territories for a couple of years. That meant the CD got put on the back burner.

“I was in a girl band in Yellowknife,” Dawson says. “There were six of us. We called ourselves the Woodyard Crew. That was a lot of fun. Then I moved down to the Island. I had some family issues, so I didn’t play quite as much music. I only really got back into it during the last three or four years.”

It was at this time, a time when she was getting serious about a musical career again, that she decided to release the CD that she had first started in Montreal back in 2001. But there was a problem—the master had gotten lost somewhere along the way.

“We recorded it in analog, on a reel-to-reel,” she explains. “There’s a really cool studio in Montreal called Hotel 2 Tango. A lot of bands like Arcade Fire and Godspeed You! Black Emperor have recorded there. It’s a funky old building and they do a lot of reel-to-reel. But I lost the master—in all the moves I just couldn’t find it. All I had was this thin (mp3) recording of it.

“So I brought it to Corwin Fox here in Cumberland. He’s a behind-the-scenes genius. He’s a musician in his own right, but he’s done a lot of production work. Very well respected. I only had a copy of the master, and when you do copies you lose sound quality. It just becomes thinner and thinner. But Corwin worked magic on it, he brought back the warmth. We’d done the mixing in Montreal, but we hadn’t done the mastering process. So I gave this thin copy to Corwin to do the mastering. We added some solos and some backing vocals with musicians I’d worked with here, so it was kind of like marrying my old life and my new life, which was pretty cool. And that was it—it didn’t need much. I added some percussion and we cut out some material. Then Corwin did the mastering process. It all only took a couple of days in his studio and it was done!”

The resulting CD is a mix of soulful folky blues with a gospel funk, a twist of pop and a twang of old-school country. Fittingly titled The Lost Tapes, it was released in August 2012. Following the release Dawson embarked on a number of tours throughout BC with her friend from Yellowknife, Tracy Riley, and also Biz Oliver from Montreal. Along the way her music has been earning her accolades, including the Vocal Performance of the Year honors for 2014 at the Vancouver Island Music Awards.

“That was a beautiful feather in my cap,” says Dawson proudly. “It took me to the next stage. Now we are playing a number of festivals, such as the Yellowknife (Folk on the Rocks) Music Festival and Sunfest (Country Music Festival) in Duncan.”

Dawson also feels fortunate to have been selected to play at the Filberg Festival this past summer. The line-up this time out was different from the trio that toured earlier in the year, with Christy Vanden on guitar, Darryl Milne on bass, Blaine Dunaway on violin, chincello and fugle horn and Bob Grant on drums and occasional trumpet. Not only was it a beautiful venue with a great vibe but it also turned out to be one of the most enjoyable performances of Dawson’s career.

“We had such a good time!” she says enthusiastically. “We closed the day on Sunday. The day was perfect, the weather was amazing. They’ve just built a new stage, it’s lovely. It’s cedar with really professional lights, great sound, wooden beams and a gorgeous backdrop. The crowd was really supportive. We even had a bit of a line-up later for CD signings.”
Things are not only picking up for Dawson, they are getting downright hectic. In addition to the Filberg Festival she also played at Nautical Days and then she headed down Island to play the Coombs Fair and at the Tour de Rock Cops for Cancer festivities in Qualicum. In a few weeks a more pared-down line-up of just herself and Vanden on guitar will appear at Habitat for Humanity fundraiser in Campbell River and the Lighthouse Country Fall Fair in Qualicum.

With the addition of Dunaway, the trio will then perform at the Harvest Festival at the Serenity Performing Arts Centre in Clearwater, the First Tuesday Fundraiser at the Mex Pub in Courtenay and Culture Days in Victoria.

“And I do have a day job,” Dawson says with a laugh. “Yes, it’s been busy, but it’s good. I’ve just hired a new social media director, so that takes some of the load off.”
So, where do things go from here? Although she plans to do a little touring, Dawson intends to focus more on recording some new music over the fall and winter months.

“Actually, a lot of the songs I want to record are old,” she says. “One of the best songs I have right now is 10 years old. It’s one that I used to do back in Yellowknife with the all-girl band. We are already performing these new songs live, so I just want to get them out there.”

She plans on doing things a little differently on this second album. First of all, she’d like to try a variety of studios to explore different sounds. Furthermore, she will not be using analog recording methods on this album, as much fun as it was on the first CD.

“Hotel 2 Tango is this big warehouse,” she recalls. “Big high ceilings—a real old warehouse with a train going by now and then. It was a wonderful experience. It had nice acoustics. But using reel-to-reel took way too long. You have to keep rewinding it all the time, so it takes four times as long. I will definitely do it digitally this time!”

Dawson is at a loss to even identify a genre to pin on her new music, much less come up with any theme. She considers this new set-list a ‘ride’ through different categories.
“Yeah, jazzy,” says Dawson. “There are some that are funky. There are some that are country. Bluegrass and folk. As far as any theme, the first CD was about me and finding my way. I was young. It was ‘me’ focused, a bit of a confessional CD. These new songs are more life-based, about letting go and going with the flow. There’s also a little more lightness and humor to these songs.”

Dawson admits that as an unsigned, solo performer it is not easy to get a CD out. Although the new songs are all written and ready to go, she needs funding to move forward. One option is to put out singles, one by one, as a sort of ‘pay as you go’ scheme. Another option is to do a four or five song EP first, but she still isn’t ruling out the possibility of simply putting out the whole album in one shot.

Regardless of how things pan out, Dawson considers herself lucky to be a performer in the Comox Valley, which she says is supportive of live music and the arts in general.
“I feel so held by this community,” she says. “It’s like a family. Yellowknife was like that too, but other places I’ve lived have so much competition. Everyone is out for themselves.

“Here there is so much loving, and I don’t think it’s naïve to say that. And there’s the beauty of it all—the mountains, the forests, the beaches. It’s inspiring in so many ways.”

For more information visit www.brodiedawson.com or find her on Facebook.

Jill Ackerman is like many Comox Valley residents who have a unique skill set that requires them to travel for work. This past spring, she secured a contract that had her commuting to Victoria for four months. It required her to pack an enormous suitcase, with multiple changes of clothing. Once she arrived, they asked her to carry a gun. Okay, it may have been a plastic gun, and she was only pretending to be a detective, but it was a real job!

Ackerman, who is a member of the Union of BC Performers and is signed with Barbara Coultish Talent Agencies in Victoria, was a ‘silent supporting actor’ on the production set of a new television series called Gracepoint. The show will air Thursday nights on the Fox network, starting October 2, 2014.

Gracepoint is a murder mystery/drama based on the popular BBC program Broadchurch. The series is about a police investigation involving a young boy who is found dead on an idyllic beach of a small California seaside town. (Various locations in Sidney and Victoria were the ‘stand-ins’ for that California town.) Soon deemed a homicide, the case sparks a media frenzy, which throws the boy’s family into further turmoil and upends the lives of all of the town’s residents. Ackerman will be in background scenes, sitting at or walking about the detectives’ desks, busily perusing files while pretending that she is helping to solve the murder mystery.

While Ackerman’s presence as an ‘extra’ on the production set did not land her a speaking role, nor will her name appear in the screen credits, her role as a background performer was an important one. She did have an opportunity to interact with the series’ leading actors, including Scottish-born David Tennant from Dr. Who, playing the role of Detective Inspector Emmett Carver, and Anna Gun, from the award-winning TV series Breaking Bad, now playing DI Ellie Miller.

“I truly felt honored to work on the Gracepoint set, alongside such talented actors,” says Ackerman. “Both Mr. Tennant and Ms. Gunn were such a pleasure to work with because they treated the set ‘staff’ as though we really did work in the ‘office’ with them. They were generous with their eye contact and acknowledgments. In one scene, when she passed by me, Ms. Gunn even asked if she could call me by name. It is such a rush to be given such personalized attention, something we background performers don’t often receive, but she really wanted us to be a team.

“Knowing Mr. Tennant’s acting background made me expect him to come out with silliness when he was relaxing, because his previous characters have been funny and mystical,” adds Ackerman. “But Detective Inspector Carver was not funny. He acted serious and mad most of the time.”

Ackerman says that the team of cops and detectives worked together well, and it truly felt as though she had worked at the Gracepoint precinct.

“Gracepoint has given a positive injection of funding, enthusiasm and electricity into the BC film industry, especially for Vancouver Island, where we have been in a slump for far too many years,” says Ackerman.

Ackerman’s eyes may light up with pride and excitement when she reminisces about her experiences on this particular TV set, but she is no stranger to the performing arts. She was born in Flushing, New York and, when she was about two years old, her parents moved to Victoria to be closer to family. Her grandmother was a well-respected opera singer and her mother, Nora Kellie, and several members of her extended family were successful performers in live theatre.

Horses were the other constant in Jill Ackerman’s life. She used to ride her bike to a local stable after school and on weekends, where she volunteered to clean barns in exchange for riding privileges. In later years, she would spend many years showing and helping train horses, plus volunteering with the Victoria Disabled Riders Association and the Comox Valley Therapeutic Riding Association. For the past two and a half years, she has been volunteering with Quarter horse trainer and breeder, Lorna White of China Trail Ranch, on Lake Trail Road. Three days a week, Ackerman helps exercise and train horses under White’s instruction.

“I hope to be able to ride horses until I am so old that I need to be lead around again, just like I was the first day I rode a pony in Central Park at the age of 18 months,” she says with a laugh.

Growing up and going to school in Victoria, Ackerman says she was too shy to try acting, but the thrill—and hard work—that goes along with being on stage or in front of the camera was something she was always aware of. Instead of pursuing a film or stage career, she went to work at the TD Bank after graduating from school. It was there that she met, and later married, Tim Ackerman.

She worked in the banking industry for about 15 years, quitting just before her son Grant was born. She is the type of woman who likes to be active so, in addition to being a homemaker, she spent seven years as a Mary Kay beauty consultant, was a hostess for Royal Welcome (similar to the Welcome Wagon) and a dedicated volunteer in her son’s school.

In 1986, while living in North Delta, Ackerman finally found the courage to step in front of a camera. She had enrolled in improv acting classes, which developed her confidence. She volunteered to host three 30-minute weekly TV shows for Delta TV. Working on Once in a Lifetime (interviewing seniors), Behind the Scenes (covering Thoroughbred horse sales), and Horsing Around with Jill (covering equine clinics and horse-related events) was a big part of her life until 1993.

One day in 1989, Ackerman was listening to the radio when she heard an announcement about a call for extras for the filming of the movie The Black Stallion, starring Mickey Rooney. People were encouraged to show up to be in the grandstand audience at the Cloverdale Racetrack. No experience necessary. It must have seemed serendipitous to her that the opportunity involved two things she now loved—acting and horses.

“I thought to myself, ‘That sounds like fun,’” recalls Ackerman. “So, I put on my whitest and brightest cowboy hat, a lovely red shirt and black jeans. I pulled my son and his friend out of school for the day and off we went. Later I would learn that those colors—red, white and black—topped the list of what NOT to wear on a movie set. The white washes out under the camera lights, red makes you stand out in a crowd, which is not a good thing for an ‘extra’, and black fades away into the background. I sure had a lot to learn. Our pay for the day was a hot dog and a soft drink.”

During breaks, Ackerman wandered around The Black Stallion set snapping photos with her camera—something she would later learn was also a movie etiquette ‘no no’. She was intrigued to learn how some people were participating in more significant silent background roles and was told that to get these paying parts required an agent. Soon after, she signed with Extra Personalities Talent and began her career as a movie extra.

She was called to work several days on The Black Stallion TV series and was thrilled when she had a chance use her own riding wardrobe, to do a walk-by while carrying her own bridle and saddle. She was in the shadows of the famous actors, but in the thick of the action never-the-less.

Living in the Vancouver area in the early 1990s provided plenty of ‘extra’ work for Ackerman, as the BC film industry was extremely active at that time. Some gigs were for just the day, while others resulted in on-going call backs as producers needed to see familiar faces of the set to ensure continuity of scenes. In addition to working on a number of TV series and movies, she was in front of the camera for commercials and video productions. In later years, there were also calls for photos shoots for print advertising.

“Back then, the pay was a brown bag lunch and a whopping $5 an hour, with 10 per cent going to the agent,” recalls Ackerman.

“We still pay all of our own expenses and more often than not, we supply our own wardrobe, but the hourly rate has increased and we usually get to eat the same delicious catered meals that the rest of the cast and crew enjoy. People should know that this type of work will never make you rich! You do it for the love of the industry and to live in a make-believe world for a period of time.”

In addition to being part of the creation of The Black Stallion, Ackerman has had the privilege of being invited on dozens of other TV and movie productions. Some of her career highlights, in addition to Gracepoint, include: Jack’s Place (Hal Linden), 21 Jump Street (Johnny Depp), Intersection (Richard Gere, Sharon Stone), Legends of the Fall (Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, Julia Ormond, and Henry Thomas), All Along the Watch Tower (Tom Berenger), and Magician’s House (Sian Philips), to name a few.

So, how does someone with Jill’s experience end up living in the Comox Valley? As is common in the banking industry, the Ackerman’s moved around the province of BC for various job postings. Tim was eventually transferred to open the Courtenay TD Bank. The family lived in Comox from 1993 through 1998. Grant attended and graduated from Highland Senior Secondary.

Tim’s job took them to other locales, but they loved the Comox Valley so much that when he retired in 2001, they moved back. They quickly reconnected with friends in the community and Ackerman got active volunteering again, plus she is always ready to respond to the next casting call.

Sometimes, Ackerman is called to fulfill the role of a ‘stand-in.’ A stand-in is someone who generally has the same physique as the lead actor. Stand-ins, or ‘second team’ as they are referred to in the industry, are used to replace the lead actors—who are busy in getting their wardrobe and make-up done—while the film crew sets up lighting and camera angles. This procedure generally takes about 20 minutes. Just before the call for ‘Lights! Camera! Action!’ the movie stars, or ‘first team’, steps into the scene and the stand-ins gracefully exit stage left.

Being a stand-in has put Ackerman in some very strange and unusual situations. Once she was required to lie in a mortician’s cadaver drawer. Another time she was stuffed in a tight space under some floor joists. “The ground was cold and damp. It was horrible!” recalls Ackerman. “When they let me come out, I suggested that they provide cushioning for the actress, which they did.”

Then there was the time she had to get into bed with another stand-in, in preparation for a romantic scene. Her experience on that set is not printable, but suffice to say that it had to be one of the most embarrassing (and funny) scenes she was ever asked to stand in—or lie down—for!

“My experience as a background actor has been so much fun,” Ackerman says. “I have been fortunate to get some really interesting and memorable assignments. I have been spoiled by my dear husband Tim and am grateful for all of his support throughout our 43 years of marriage. Tim has always supported my hobbies and career as he too enjoys the excitement and thrills that come from the stories they bring to the relationship.

“I look forward to the possibility of the Gracepoint series returning to film for a second season next spring,” she adds. “Maybe they will call me back again, for continuity in the precinct, so that we can continue to work together as a great detective team.”

Jill Ackerman is like many Comox Valley residents who have a unique skill set that requires them to travel for work. This past spring, she secured a contract that had her commuting to Victoria for four months. It required her to pack an enormous suitcase, with multiple changes of clothing. Once she arrived, they asked her to carry a gun. Okay, it may have been a plastic gun, and she was only pretending to be a detective, but it was a real job!

Ackerman, who is a member of the Union of BC Performers and is signed with Barbara Coultish Talent Agencies in Victoria, was a ‘silent supporting actor’ on the production set of a new television series called Gracepoint. The show will air Thursday nights on the Fox network, starting October 2, 2014.

Gracepoint is a murder mystery/drama based on the popular BBC program Broadchurch. The series is about a police investigation involving a young boy who is found dead on an idyllic beach of a small California seaside town. (Various locations in Sidney and Victoria were the ‘stand-ins’ for that California town.) Soon deemed a homicide, the case sparks a media frenzy, which throws the boy’s family into further turmoil and upends the lives of all of the town’s residents. Ackerman will be in background scenes, sitting at or walking about the detectives’ desks, busily perusing files while pretending that she is helping to solve the murder mystery.

While Ackerman’s presence as an ‘extra’ on the production set did not land her a speaking role, nor will her name appear in the screen credits, her role as a background performer was an important one. She did have an opportunity to interact with the series’ leading actors, including Scottish-born David Tennant from Dr. Who, playing the role of Detective Inspector Emmett Carver, and Anna Gun, from the award-winning TV series Breaking Bad, now playing DI Ellie Miller.

“I truly felt honored to work on the Gracepoint set, alongside such talented actors,” says Ackerman. “Both Mr. Tennant and Ms. Gunn were such a pleasure to work with because they treated the set ‘staff’ as though we really did work in the ‘office’ with them. They were generous with their eye contact and acknowledgments. In one scene, when she passed by me, Ms. Gunn even asked if she could call me by name. It is such a rush to be given such personalized attention, something we background performers don’t often receive, but she really wanted us to be a team.

“Knowing Mr. Tennant’s acting background made me expect him to come out with silliness when he was relaxing, because his previous characters have been funny and mystical,” adds Ackerman. “But Detective Inspector Carver was not funny. He acted serious and mad most of the time.”

Ackerman says that the team of cops and detectives worked together well, and it truly felt as though she had worked at the Gracepoint precinct.

“Gracepoint has given a positive injection of funding, enthusiasm and electricity into the BC film industry, especially for Vancouver Island, where we have been in a slump for far too many years,” says Ackerman.

Ackerman’s eyes may light up with pride and excitement when she reminisces about her experiences on this particular TV set, but she is no stranger to the performing arts. She was born in Flushing, New York and, when she was about two years old, her parents moved to Victoria to be closer to family. Her grandmother was a well-respected opera singer and her mother, Nora Kellie, and several members of her extended family were successful performers in live theatre.

Horses were the other constant in Jill Ackerman’s life. She used to ride her bike to a local stable after school and on weekends, where she volunteered to clean barns in exchange for riding privileges. In later years, she would spend many years showing and helping train horses, plus volunteering with the Victoria Disabled Riders Association and the Comox Valley Therapeutic Riding Association. For the past two and a half years, she has been volunteering with Quarter horse trainer and breeder, Lorna White of China Trail Ranch, on Lake Trail Road. Three days a week, Ackerman helps exercise and train horses under White’s instruction.

“I hope to be able to ride horses until I am so old that I need to be lead around again, just like I was the first day I rode a pony in Central Park at the age of 18 months,” she says with a laugh.

Growing up and going to school in Victoria, Ackerman says she was too shy to try acting, but the thrill—and hard work—that goes along with being on stage or in front of the camera was something she was always aware of. Instead of pursuing a film or stage career, she went to work at the TD Bank after graduating from school. It was there that she met, and later married, Tim Ackerman.

She worked in the banking industry for about 15 years, quitting just before her son Grant was born. She is the type of woman who likes to be active so, in addition to being a homemaker, she spent seven years as a Mary Kay beauty consultant, was a hostess for Royal Welcome (similar to the Welcome Wagon) and a dedicated volunteer in her son’s school.
In 1986, while living in North Delta, Ackerman finally found the courage to step in front of a camera. She had enrolled in improv acting classes, which developed her confidence. She volunteered to host three 30-minute weekly TV shows for Delta TV. Working on Once in a Lifetime (interviewing seniors), Behind the Scenes (covering Thoroughbred horse sales), and Horsing Around with Jill (covering equine clinics and horse-related events) was a big part of her life until 1993.

One day in 1989, Ackerman was listening to the radio when she heard an announcement about a call for extras for the filming of the movie The Black Stallion, starring Mickey Rooney. People were encouraged to show up to be in the grandstand audience at the Cloverdale Racetrack. No experience necessary. It must have seemed serendipitous to her that the opportunity involved two things she now loved—acting and horses.

“I thought to myself, ‘That sounds like fun,’” recalls Ackerman. “So, I put on my whitest and brightest cowboy hat, a lovely red shirt and black jeans. I pulled my son and his friend out of school for the day and off we went. Later I would learn that those colors—red, white and black—topped the list of what NOT to wear on a movie set. The white washes out under the camera lights, red makes you stand out in a crowd, which is not a good thing for an ‘extra’, and black fades away into the background. I sure had a lot to learn. Our pay for the day was a hot dog and a soft drink.”

During breaks, Ackerman wandered around The Black Stallion set snapping photos with her camera—something she would later learn was also a movie etiquette ‘no no’. She was intrigued to learn how some people were participating in more significant silent background roles and was told that to get these paying parts required an agent. Soon after, she signed with Extra Personalities Talent and began her career as a movie extra.

She was called to work several days on The Black Stallion TV series and was thrilled when she had a chance use her own riding wardrobe, to do a walk-by while carrying her own bridle and saddle. She was in the shadows of the famous actors, but in the thick of the action never-the-less.

Living in the Vancouver area in the early 1990s provided plenty of ‘extra’ work for Ackerman, as the BC film industry was extremely active at that time. Some gigs were for just the day, while others resulted in on-going call backs as producers needed to see familiar faces of the set to ensure continuity of scenes. In addition to working on a number of TV series and movies, she was in front of the camera for commercials and video productions. In later years, there were also calls for photos shoots for print advertising.

“Back then, the pay was a brown bag lunch and a whopping $5 an hour, with 10 per cent going to the agent,” recalls Ackerman.

“We still pay all of our own expenses and more often than not, we supply our own wardrobe, but the hourly rate has increased and we usually get to eat the same delicious catered meals that the rest of the cast and crew enjoy. People should know that this type of work will never make you rich! You do it for the love of the industry and to live in a make-believe world for a period of time.”

In addition to being part of the creation of The Black Stallion, Ackerman has had the privilege of being invited on dozens of other TV and movie productions.
Some of her career highlights, in addition to Gracepoint, include: Jack’s Place (Hal Linden), 21 Jump Street (Johnny Depp), Intersection (Richard Gere, Sharon Stone), Legends of the Fall (Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, Julia Ormond, and Henry Thomas), All Along the Watch Tower (Tom Berenger), and Magician’s House (Sian Philips), to name a few.

So, how does someone with Jill’s experience end up living in the Comox Valley? As is common in the banking industry, the Ackerman’s moved around the province of BC for various job postings. Tim was eventually transferred to open the Courtenay TD Bank. The family lived in Comox from 1993 through 1998. Grant attended and graduated from Highland Senior Secondary.
Tim’s job took them to other locales, but they loved the Comox Valley so much that when he retired in 2001, they moved back. They quickly reconnected with friends in the community and Ackerman got active volunteering again, plus she is always ready to respond to the next casting call.

Sometimes, Ackerman is called to fulfill the role of a ‘stand-in.’ A stand-in is someone who generally has the same physique as the lead actor. Stand-ins, or ‘second team’ as they are referred to in the industry, are used to replace the lead actors—who are busy in getting their wardrobe and make-up done—while the film crew sets up lighting and camera angles. This procedure generally takes about 20 minutes. Just before the call for ‘Lights! Camera! Action!’ the movie stars, or ‘first team’, steps into the scene and the stand-ins gracefully exit stage left.

Being a stand-in has put Ackerman in some very strange and unusual situations. Once she was required to lie in a mortician’s cadaver drawer. Another time she was stuffed in a tight space under some floor joists. “The ground was cold and damp. It was horrible!” recalls Ackerman. “When they let me come out, I suggested that they provide cushioning for the actress, which they did.”

Then there was the time she had to get into bed with another stand-in, in preparation for a romantic scene. Her experience on that set is not printable, but suffice to say that it had to be one of the most embarrassing (and funny) scenes she was ever asked to stand in—or lie down—for!

“My experience as a background actor has been so much fun,” Ackerman says. “I have been fortunate to get some really interesting and memorable assignments. I have been spoiled by my dear husband Tim and am grateful for all of his support throughout our 43 years of marriage. Tim has always supported my hobbies and career as he too enjoys the excitement and thrills that come from the stories they bring to the relationship.

“I look forward to the possibility of the Gracepoint series returning to film for a second season next spring,” she adds. “Maybe they will call me back again, for continuity in the precinct, so that we can continue to work together as a great detective team.”

Jill Ackerman is like many Comox Valley residents who have a unique skill set that requires them to travel for work. This past spring, she secured a contract that had her commuting to Victoria for four months. It required her to pack an enormous suitcase, with multiple changes of clothing. Once she arrived, they asked her to carry a gun. Okay, it may have been a plastic gun, and she was only pretending to be a detective, but it was a real job!

Ackerman, who is a member of the Union of BC Performers and is signed with Barbara Coultish Talent Agencies in Victoria, was a ‘silent supporting actor’ on the production set of a new television series called Gracepoint. The show will air Thursday nights on the Fox network, starting October 2, 2014.

Gracepoint is a murder mystery/drama based on the popular BBC program Broadchurch. The series is about a police investigation involving a young boy who is found dead on an idyllic beach of a small California seaside town. (Various locations in Sidney and Victoria were the ‘stand-ins’ for that California town.) Soon deemed a homicide, the case sparks a media frenzy, which throws the boy’s family into further turmoil and upends the lives of all of the town’s residents. Ackerman will be in background scenes, sitting at or walking about the detectives’ desks, busily perusing files while pretending that she is helping to solve the murder mystery.

While Ackerman’s presence as an ‘extra’ on the production set did not land her a speaking role, nor will her name appear in the screen credits, her role as a background performer was an important one. She did have an opportunity to interact with the series’ leading actors, including Scottish-born David Tennant from Dr. Who, playing the role of Detective Inspector Emmett Carver, and Anna Gun, from the award-winning TV series Breaking Bad, now playing DI Ellie Miller.

“I truly felt honored to work on the Gracepoint set, alongside such talented actors,” says Ackerman. “Both Mr. Tennant and Ms. Gunn were such a pleasure to work with because they treated the set ‘staff’ as though we really did work in the ‘office’ with them. They were generous with their eye contact and acknowledgments. In one scene, when she passed by me, Ms. Gunn even asked if she could call me by name. It is such a rush to be given such personalized attention, something we background performers don’t often receive, but she really wanted us to be a team.

“Knowing Mr. Tennant’s acting background made me expect him to come out with silliness when he was relaxing, because his previous characters have been funny and mystical,” adds Ackerman. “But Detective Inspector Carver was not funny. He acted serious and mad most of the time.”

Ackerman says that the team of cops and detectives worked together well, and it truly felt as though she had worked at the Gracepoint precinct.

“Gracepoint has given a positive injection of funding, enthusiasm and electricity into the BC film industry, especially for Vancouver Island, where we have been in a slump for far too many years,” says Ackerman.

Ackerman’s eyes may light up with pride and excitement when she reminisces about her experiences on this particular TV set, but she is no stranger to the performing arts. She was born in Flushing, New York and, when she was about two years old, her parents moved to Victoria to be closer to family. Her grandmother was a well-respected opera singer and her mother, Nora Kellie, and several members of her extended family were successful performers in live theatre.

Horses were the other constant in Jill Ackerman’s life. She used to ride her bike to a local stable after school and on weekends, where she volunteered to clean barns in exchange for riding privileges. In later years, she would spend many years showing and helping train horses, plus volunteering with the Victoria Disabled Riders Association and the Comox Valley Therapeutic Riding Association. For the past two and a half years, she has been volunteering with Quarter horse trainer and breeder, Lorna White of China Trail Ranch, on Lake Trail Road. Three days a week, Ackerman helps exercise and train horses under White’s instruction.

“I hope to be able to ride horses until I am so old that I need to be lead around again, just like I was the first day I rode a pony in Central Park at the age of 18 months,” she says with a laugh.

Growing up and going to school in Victoria, Ackerman says she was too shy to try acting, but the thrill—and hard work—that goes along with being on stage or in front of the camera was something she was always aware of. Instead of pursuing a film or stage career, she went to work at the TD Bank after graduating from school. It was there that she met, and later married, Tim Ackerman.

She worked in the banking industry for about 15 years, quitting just before her son Grant was born. She is the type of woman who likes to be active so, in addition to being a homemaker, she spent seven years as a Mary Kay beauty consultant, was a hostess for Royal Welcome (similar to the Welcome Wagon) and a dedicated volunteer in her son’s school.
In 1986, while living in North Delta, Ackerman finally found the courage to step in front of a camera. She had enrolled in improv acting classes, which developed her confidence. She volunteered to host three 30-minute weekly TV shows for Delta TV. Working on Once in a Lifetime (interviewing seniors), Behind the Scenes (covering Thoroughbred horse sales), and Horsing Around with Jill (covering equine clinics and horse-related events) was a big part of her life until 1993.

One day in 1989, Ackerman was listening to the radio when she heard an announcement about a call for extras for the filming of the movie The Black Stallion, starring Mickey Rooney. People were encouraged to show up to be in the grandstand audience at the Cloverdale Racetrack. No experience necessary. It must have seemed serendipitous to her that the opportunity involved two things she now loved—acting and horses.

“I thought to myself, ‘That sounds like fun,’” recalls Ackerman. “So, I put on my whitest and brightest cowboy hat, a lovely red shirt and black jeans. I pulled my son and his friend out of school for the day and off we went. Later I would learn that those colors—red, white and black—topped the list of what NOT to wear on a movie set. The white washes out under the camera lights, red makes you stand out in a crowd, which is not a good thing for an ‘extra’, and black fades away into the background. I sure had a lot to learn. Our pay for the day was a hot dog and a soft drink.”

During breaks, Ackerman wandered around The Black Stallion set snapping photos with her camera—something she would later learn was also a movie etiquette ‘no no’. She was intrigued to learn how some people were participating in more significant silent background roles and was told that to get these paying parts required an agent. Soon after, she signed with Extra Personalities Talent and began her career as a movie extra.

She was called to work several days on The Black Stallion TV series and was thrilled when she had a chance use her own riding wardrobe, to do a walk-by while carrying her own bridle and saddle. She was in the shadows of the famous actors, but in the thick of the action never-the-less.

Living in the Vancouver area in the early 1990s provided plenty of ‘extra’ work for Ackerman, as the BC film industry was extremely active at that time. Some gigs were for just the day, while others resulted in on-going call backs as producers needed to see familiar faces of the set to ensure continuity of scenes. In addition to working on a number of TV series and movies, she was in front of the camera for commercials and video productions. In later years, there were also calls for photos shoots for print advertising.

“Back then, the pay was a brown bag lunch and a whopping $5 an hour, with 10 per cent going to the agent,” recalls Ackerman.

“We still pay all of our own expenses and more often than not, we supply our own wardrobe, but the hourly rate has increased and we usually get to eat the same delicious catered meals that the rest of the cast and crew enjoy. People should know that this type of work will never make you rich! You do it for the love of the industry and to live in a make-believe world for a period of time.”

In addition to being part of the creation of The Black Stallion, Ackerman has had the privilege of being invited on dozens of other TV and movie productions.
Some of her career highlights, in addition to Gracepoint, include: Jack’s Place (Hal Linden), 21 Jump Street (Johnny Depp), Intersection (Richard Gere, Sharon Stone), Legends of the Fall (Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, Julia Ormond, and Henry Thomas), All Along the Watch Tower (Tom Berenger), and Magician’s House (Sian Philips), to name a few.

So, how does someone with Jill’s experience end up living in the Comox Valley? As is common in the banking industry, the Ackerman’s moved around the province of BC for various job postings. Tim was eventually transferred to open the Courtenay TD Bank. The family lived in Comox from 1993 through 1998. Grant attended and graduated from Highland Senior Secondary.
Tim’s job took them to other locales, but they loved the Comox Valley so much that when he retired in 2001, they moved back. They quickly reconnected with friends in the community and Ackerman got active volunteering again, plus she is always ready to respond to the next casting call.

Sometimes, Ackerman is called to fulfill the role of a ‘stand-in.’ A stand-in is someone who generally has the same physique as the lead actor. Stand-ins, or ‘second team’ as they are referred to in the industry, are used to replace the lead actors—who are busy in getting their wardrobe and make-up done—while the film crew sets up lighting and camera angles. This procedure generally takes about 20 minutes. Just before the call for ‘Lights! Camera! Action!’ the movie stars, or ‘first team’, steps into the scene and the stand-ins gracefully exit stage left.

Being a stand-in has put Ackerman in some very strange and unusual situations. Once she was required to lie in a mortician’s cadaver drawer. Another time she was stuffed in a tight space under some floor joists. “The ground was cold and damp. It was horrible!” recalls Ackerman. “When they let me come out, I suggested that they provide cushioning for the actress, which they did.”

Then there was the time she had to get into bed with another stand-in, in preparation for a romantic scene. Her experience on that set is not printable, but suffice to say that it had to be one of the most embarrassing (and funny) scenes she was ever asked to stand in—or lie down—for!

“My experience as a background actor has been so much fun,” Ackerman says. “I have been fortunate to get some really interesting and memorable assignments. I have been spoiled by my dear husband Tim and am grateful for all of his support throughout our 43 years of marriage. Tim has always supported my hobbies and career as he too enjoys the excitement and thrills that come from the stories they bring to the relationship.

“I look forward to the possibility of the Gracepoint series returning to film for a second season next spring,” she adds. “Maybe they will call me back again, for continuity in the precinct, so that we can continue to work together as a great detective team.”

Jill Ackerman is like many Comox Valley residents who have a unique skill set that requires them to travel for work. This past spring, she secured a contract that had her commuting to Victoria for four months. It required her to pack an enormous suitcase, with multiple changes of clothing. Once she arrived, they asked her to carry a gun. Okay, it may have been a plastic gun, and she was only pretending to be a detective, but it was a real job!

Ackerman, who is a member of the Union of BC Performers and is signed with Barbara Coultish Talent Agencies in Victoria, was a ‘silent supporting actor’ on the production set of a new television series called Gracepoint. The show will air Thursday nights on the Fox network, starting October 2, 2014.

Gracepoint is a murder mystery/drama based on the popular BBC program Broadchurch. The series is about a police investigation involving a young boy who is found dead on an idyllic beach of a small California seaside town. (Various locations in Sidney and Victoria were the ‘stand-ins’ for that California town.) Soon deemed a homicide, the case sparks a media frenzy, which throws the boy’s family into further turmoil and upends the lives of all of the town’s residents. Ackerman will be in background scenes, sitting at or walking about the detectives’ desks, busily perusing files while pretending that she is helping to solve the murder mystery.

While Ackerman’s presence as an ‘extra’ on the production set did not land her a speaking role, nor will her name appear in the screen credits, her role as a background performer was an important one. She did have an opportunity to interact with the series’ leading actors, including Scottish-born David Tennant from Dr. Who, playing the role of Detective Inspector Emmett Carver, and Anna Gun, from the award-winning TV series Breaking Bad, now playing DI Ellie Miller.

“I truly felt honored to work on the Gracepoint set, alongside such talented actors,” says Ackerman. “Both Mr. Tennant and Ms. Gunn were such a pleasure to work with because they treated the set ‘staff’ as though we really did work in the ‘office’ with them. They were generous with their eye contact and acknowledgments. In one scene, when she passed by me, Ms. Gunn even asked if she could call me by name. It is such a rush to be given such personalized attention, something we background performers don’t often receive, but she really wanted us to be a team.

“Knowing Mr. Tennant’s acting background made me expect him to come out with silliness when he was relaxing, because his previous characters have been funny and mystical,” adds Ackerman. “But Detective Inspector Carver was not funny. He acted serious and mad most of the time.”

Ackerman says that the team of cops and detectives worked together well, and it truly felt as though she had worked at the Gracepoint precinct.

“Gracepoint has given a positive injection of funding, enthusiasm and electricity into the BC film industry, especially for Vancouver Island, where we have been in a slump for far too many years,” says Ackerman.

Ackerman’s eyes may light up with pride and excitement when she reminisces about her experiences on this particular TV set, but she is no stranger to the performing arts. She was born in Flushing, New York and, when she was about two years old, her parents moved to Victoria to be closer to family. Her grandmother was a well-respected opera singer and her mother, Nora Kellie, and several members of her extended family were successful performers in live theatre.

Horses were the other constant in Jill Ackerman’s life. She used to ride her bike to a local stable after school and on weekends, where she volunteered to clean barns in exchange for riding privileges. In later years, she would spend many years showing and helping train horses, plus volunteering with the Victoria Disabled Riders Association and the Comox Valley Therapeutic Riding Association. For the past two and a half years, she has been volunteering with Quarter horse trainer and breeder, Lorna White of China Trail Ranch, on Lake Trail Road. Three days a week, Ackerman helps exercise and train horses under White’s instruction.

“I hope to be able to ride horses until I am so old that I need to be lead around again, just like I was the first day I rode a pony in Central Park at the age of 18 months,” she says with a laugh.

Growing up and going to school in Victoria, Ackerman says she was too shy to try acting, but the thrill—and hard work—that goes along with being on stage or in front of the camera was something she was always aware of. Instead of pursuing a film or stage career, she went to work at the TD Bank after graduating from school. It was there that she met, and later married, Tim Ackerman.

She worked in the banking industry for about 15 years, quitting just before her son Grant was born. She is the type of woman who likes to be active so, in addition to being a homemaker, she spent seven years as a Mary Kay beauty consultant, was a hostess for Royal Welcome (similar to the Welcome Wagon) and a dedicated volunteer in her son’s school.
In 1986, while living in North Delta, Ackerman finally found the courage to step in front of a camera. She had enrolled in improv acting classes, which developed her confidence. She volunteered to host three 30-minute weekly TV shows for Delta TV. Working on Once in a Lifetime (interviewing seniors), Behind the Scenes (covering Thoroughbred horse sales), and Horsing Around with Jill (covering equine clinics and horse-related events) was a big part of her life until 1993.

One day in 1989, Ackerman was listening to the radio when she heard an announcement about a call for extras for the filming of the movie The Black Stallion, starring Mickey Rooney. People were encouraged to show up to be in the grandstand audience at the Cloverdale Racetrack. No experience necessary. It must have seemed serendipitous to her that the opportunity involved two things she now loved—acting and horses.

“I thought to myself, ‘That sounds like fun,’” recalls Ackerman. “So, I put on my whitest and brightest cowboy hat, a lovely red shirt and black jeans. I pulled my son and his friend out of school for the day and off we went. Later I would learn that those colors—red, white and black—topped the list of what NOT to wear on a movie set. The white washes out under the camera lights, red makes you stand out in a crowd, which is not a good thing for an ‘extra’, and black fades away into the background. I sure had a lot to learn. Our pay for the day was a hot dog and a soft drink.”

During breaks, Ackerman wandered around The Black Stallion set snapping photos with her camera—something she would later learn was also a movie etiquette ‘no no’. She was intrigued to learn how some people were participating in more significant silent background roles and was told that to get these paying parts required an agent. Soon after, she signed with Extra Personalities Talent and began her career as a movie extra.

She was called to work several days on The Black Stallion TV series and was thrilled when she had a chance use her own riding wardrobe, to do a walk-by while carrying her own bridle and saddle. She was in the shadows of the famous actors, but in the thick of the action never-the-less.

Living in the Vancouver area in the early 1990s provided plenty of ‘extra’ work for Ackerman, as the BC film industry was extremely active at that time. Some gigs were for just the day, while others resulted in on-going call backs as producers needed to see familiar faces of the set to ensure continuity of scenes. In addition to working on a number of TV series and movies, she was in front of the camera for commercials and video productions. In later years, there were also calls for photos shoots for print advertising.

“Back then, the pay was a brown bag lunch and a whopping $5 an hour, with 10 per cent going to the agent,” recalls Ackerman.

“We still pay all of our own expenses and more often than not, we supply our own wardrobe, but the hourly rate has increased and we usually get to eat the same delicious catered meals that the rest of the cast and crew enjoy. People should know that this type of work will never make you rich! You do it for the love of the industry and to live in a make-believe world for a period of time.”

In addition to being part of the creation of The Black Stallion, Ackerman has had the privilege of being invited on dozens of other TV and movie productions.
Some of her career highlights, in addition to Gracepoint, include: Jack’s Place (Hal Linden), 21 Jump Street (Johnny Depp), Intersection (Richard Gere, Sharon Stone), Legends of the Fall (Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, Julia Ormond, and Henry Thomas), All Along the Watch Tower (Tom Berenger), and Magician’s House (Sian Philips), to name a few.

So, how does someone with Jill’s experience end up living in the Comox Valley? As is common in the banking industry, the Ackerman’s moved around the province of BC for various job postings. Tim was eventually transferred to open the Courtenay TD Bank. The family lived in Comox from 1993 through 1998. Grant attended and graduated from Highland Senior Secondary.
Tim’s job took them to other locales, but they loved the Comox Valley so much that when he retired in 2001, they moved back. They quickly reconnected with friends in the community and Ackerman got active volunteering again, plus she is always ready to respond to the next casting call.

Sometimes, Ackerman is called to fulfill the role of a ‘stand-in.’ A stand-in is someone who generally has the same physique as the lead actor. Stand-ins, or ‘second team’ as they are referred to in the industry, are used to replace the lead actors—who are busy in getting their wardrobe and make-up done—while the film crew sets up lighting and camera angles. This procedure generally takes about 20 minutes. Just before the call for ‘Lights! Camera! Action!’ the movie stars, or ‘first team’, steps into the scene and the stand-ins gracefully exit stage left.

Being a stand-in has put Ackerman in some very strange and unusual situations. Once she was required to lie in a mortician’s cadaver drawer. Another time she was stuffed in a tight space under some floor joists. “The ground was cold and damp. It was horrible!” recalls Ackerman. “When they let me come out, I suggested that they provide cushioning for the actress, which they did.”

Then there was the time she had to get into bed with another stand-in, in preparation for a romantic scene. Her experience on that set is not printable, but suffice to say that it had to be one of the most embarrassing (and funny) scenes she was ever asked to stand in—or lie down—for!

“My experience as a background actor has been so much fun,” Ackerman says. “I have been fortunate to get some really interesting and memorable assignments. I have been spoiled by my dear husband Tim and am grateful for all of his support throughout our 43 years of marriage. Tim has always supported my hobbies and career as he too enjoys the excitement and thrills that come from the stories they bring to the relationship.

“I look forward to the possibility of the Gracepoint series returning to film for a second season next spring,” she adds. “Maybe they will call me back again, for continuity in the precinct, so that we can continue to work together as a great detective team.”

It takes a certain amount of chutzpah to initiate a new festival on Denman Island. This rural community, home to approximately 1,100 people, already hosts an annual Readers and Writers Festival, Craft Fair, Pottery Studio Tour, Art Studio Tour, Sustainability Festival, Fall Fair, fabric arts festival, and biennial Home & Garden Tour, all of which bring visitors from all over BC.

But a good number of Denman Islanders think there’s something essential missing from this list—apples. So this Thanksgiving weekend, on Saturday, October 11, a group of farmers and foodies will launch the first ever Denman Island Apple Festival, a celebration of the Island’s rich apple-growing history, its bounteous apple-growing present, and its promising apple-growing future.

The heart of the action will be a big tent at the Denman Island Farmers’ Market on Saturday morning. “We’re aiming to lay our hands on 50 different apple varieties to have on display,” says Shonna Janeway, Apple Festival coordinator. “There will be samples and tastings of apples and apple products: apple pies, juice, jelly, compote, dried apples, pies, apple chips, and more. And there will be activities for kids because we want this to be family-friendly.”

The other main site will be the Denman Community Hall, where Pressing Matters mobile apple press will set up so people can bring their apples to be juiced (see story next page). As well, there will be a cider-making workshop, and a team of experts on hand to answer apple-related questions.

Also, there will be tours at East Cider Orchard, a certified organic orchard known for their heritage apples—80 different varieties, at last count.

The inspiration for the Denman festival comes from established apple festivals in other rural locations.

“Apple festivals across Canada are a huge tradition,” says Janeway. “In Ontario, there are places in the rural countryside where the festival takes over the whole town. There are parades, lots of vendors, and all kinds of celebratory events. Closer to home there’s the Saltspring Apple Festival.”

Janeway is well-qualified to coordinate the Apple Festival. As proprietor of Denman Heritage Apples, she spends her days, along with her daughter Kate, on her five-acre family farm and nursery, tending close to 1,000 apple seedlings, which she sells at Seedy Saturdays and by mail-order. Specializing in traditional varieties, the nursery offers more than 80 types of apple trees.

There’s no doubt Janeway loves to eat apples, but she also wants to bring attention to the value of the trees themselves. “It’s not just about food. For instance, people don’t realize the service apple trees provide to the bees. In a cold spring, a huge number of bees are kept alive by apple blossoms. If you stand under your apple tree when it’s blossoming, the sound is deafening. There can be a thousand bees buzzing in there!” she says.

Apple trees are also living repositories of human history. “Old varieties of apple trees are in danger of dying out. This is tragic!” Janeway says. The apple trees of Denman Island, she points out, are tangible results of the history of human migration.

“European settlers brought these over as seedlings, or as apples that provided seed, back in the early 1900s. When people migrated they only took what they thought was worthwhile. Obviously they valued apples.

“It’s amazing that something that originated in a faraway country, hundreds of years ago, is growing here and feeding us.” For instance, there’s the Belle de Boscoop (sometimes known as “the Champagne of apples”), which originated in Holland in 1856. There’s the Gravenstein, which originated in Denmark in the early 1700s, and the Lady, which has been dated back to 1628 in France.

Denman Island’s apple-growing history may not date back to 1628, but it’s significant. The Island has been renowned for apples since its pioneer days, when Tom Piercy cleared enough land to plant more than 1,000 apple trees in about 1890. This orchard was, at the time, the largest of its kind on the West Coast, according to the BC Tourism website.

In the 1950s, Denman Island was a major supplier of apples to Vancouver Island and the mainland. Apples, along with other farm produce, were loaded onto barges and shipped to Vancouver.

The success of the Okanagan Valley as a fruit-producing region impacted the scope of Denman’s apple activity, but nonetheless in the early 1980s the Island’s apple-growing history inspired a group of young farming families to form the Apple Island Orchard Co-operative. These farmers bought seedlings en masse, and worked together on each orchard to plant trees and put in infrastructure for a commercial-scale orchard. Along the way, they shared books, ideas, and childcare, and made all decisions by consensus.

The Denman Co-op was in the forefront of the then-embryonic organics movement. Not all its members were certified organic, but all grew their fruit using all-natural practices. When they approached Granville Island Market in Vancouver about being vendors there, the initial reception was sceptical.

“We had to explain to them why we were different from what was already being sold there. We were definitely one of the first, maybe the very first, organic vendors,” says Anne de Cosson, co-owner of East Cider Orchards. “That and the heritage apples were a big draw, but it was all new to people. We had to be trailblazers. At first we were only assigned space outdoors where we sold out of our trucks, but when the Market organizers saw how successful we were, they gave us space inside.”

The Co-op also blazed a trail due to its work reviving heritage apples. “We had people contacting us from all over. We really piqued the interest of the old-time growers in Eastern Canada and the US, and in England, because we were growing the old varieties.”

De Cosson explains why heritage apples fell out of favor, and why growers and consumers are now so keen to rediscover them. “There used to be about 100 different varieties of apple grown on the West Coast, but a lot of these fell away when apple growing moved to the Okanagan. The apples that have been developed in Canada tend to be developed specifically for that region, and for regions in Eastern Canada that grow apples. But here on the coast, to grow apples successfully we need varieties adapted to our growing conditions, which are entirely different.

“Also, apples developed for mass-market consumption are developed for all kinds of practical reasons, for instance so that they look a certain way, have a uniform shape, store well, and can be handled easily.

“Heritage varieties tend to taste better, and offer more variety of flavors. They often don’t look as perfect—for instance, a Gravenstein isn’t round, it’s bumpy. It will always be bumpy. It’s a character apple,” says de Cosson.

The Apple Island Co-operative disbanded after about five years, as people’s paths diverged. By then a renewed apple-growing culture had taken root on Denman.
Vlasta Ulovec and her partner Rod McNabb bought Apple Lane Orchard from one of the original Apple Island Co-op members 25 years ago. She says the heritage apples she inherited were the key to the orchard’s commercial success.

“It is amazing to see how excited people get at the farmers’ markets in Vancouver,” she says. “We get a lot of immigrants from Europe who come every week to us. They are so excited—they say the apples taste like the ones they remember from their home country, the ones they ate as kids,” she says.

This excitement translates into hard work for Ulovec and McNabb. From late summer till late fall they load their van every weekend and make the trek to four different farmers’ markets—Courtenay, Qualicum, Granville Island and Vancouver’s Oak Street Market. They also sell to retail outlets like Edible Island and Capers.

“The fall season is definitely very crazy for us. We work hard, no doubt about it. But we love it. We make a living. And we are doing a good thing—feeding the people.”
For orchardists like Ulovec, de Cosson and Janeway, the Denman Apple Festival is an opportunity to celebrate their hard work and to share the fruits of their labor with community. For others on Denman, the festival is a welcome addition to the Island’s grow local, eat local aspirations.

In fact, the Apple Festival is part of a burgeoning agricultural renaissance on Denman. The Island may not ever replicate the agricultural heyday it enjoyed in the 1950s, but in the past 10 years or so, Denman has seen a burst of food and farming activity.

When the Denman Saturday Farmers’ Market started up in the early 2000s, there were less than a half-a-dozen vendors. These days there can be more than 20, including more and more young farmers. Similarly, Denman’s Seedy Saturday event grows every year, and the local food directory includes more and more entries. The elementary school recently created a school garden that provides ingredients for weekly “Feasty Fridays” and the Island boasts both a successful potato planting co-operative and a community seniors’ garden.

“There is definitely an upswell,” says Veronica Timmons, whose farm, Alveroni Gardens, is part of this growing trend, providing salad greens to stores and restaurants on Denman and Vancouver Islands.

Timmons is also the chair of the Hornby and Denman Growers and Producers Alliance (GPA), the community organization that is sponsoring the Apple Festival. The GPA’s motto is “Denman Feeding Denman,” and since its founding in 2010, its members have worked steadily toward this goal, organizing a buy local campaign, presenting workshops on farming and agri-business skills, and buying equipment such as a dehydrator, chicken plucker, sheep shears and a seeder, which it rents to members.

One GPA project was the placement of a cooler in the Denman General Store dedicated to local produce. Timmons says that the amount of produce sold out of this cooler has doubled in the past year. “There is a paradigm shift happening. It’s not just us here on Denman. It’s the Comox Valley and much of the rest of the world, seeing food security and sustainability as a major issue. We are doing our part here,” says Timmons. “It’s a very exciting time.”

The Apple Festival grows out of that excitement. Timmons and Janeway chose Thanksgiving weekend mainly because that is when the apples are at their best, but also because this is a weekend when people gather to feast and to be together. They are confident that the Apple Festival will add to, rather than compete with, Denman’s roster of festivals, tours and other happenings. “It’s going to be fun, as well as a celebration of something we do well,” says Timmons.

For more information visit www.islandagriculture.wordpress.com